Television receiver



Oct. 28, 1941.

A. A. LINSELL TELEVISION RECEIVER Filed May 28, 1938 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 28, 1941 TELEVISION RECEIVER Alfred Aubyn Linsell, London, England, assignor to RadioCorporationof America, a corporation of Delaware Application May 28, 1938, Serial No. 210,561'

In Great Britain October 5, 1937 4 Claims.

This invention relates'to televisionreceivers.

In most present day television receivers, although the viewing screen or other surface upon which the reproduced pictures appear can be clearly seen by a person standing directly in front of the said screen, the said pictures are not satisfactorily and clearly visible to persons standing laterally of the direct frontal position and since, particularly in the case of television receivers in domestic use, it may not always be convenient to view the reproduced pictures from a particular predetermined position in a room, it sometimes becomes necessary with such known-receivers to move the receiver bodily so as to re-orient it in a desired direction. Since television receiver installations are both bulky and heavy this is inconvenient and in some cases impracticable.

The present invention has for its object to meet the above difiiculty.

According to this invention, the television picture viewing surface on which pictures to be viewed are reproduced in a television receiver is movably mounted with respect to the receiver as a whole so that its orientation about a vertical or approximately vertical axis may be varied without moving the receiver as a whole.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying schematic drawing. In the drawing, Fig. 1 shows in perspective and partly broken away one form of turret which may be used in carrying out the invention; Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are respectively plan and mutually perpendicular elevational views showing the turret of Fig. 1 in the cabinet and in position for viewing by a viewer immediately in front of the cabinet; Fig. 5 is a plan view showing a modification; Fig. 6 is a plan view showing a mechanism which may be used for rotating a turret employed in carrying out the invention; and Fig. '7 is an elevational view showing a mechanism for raising and lowering a turret.

Referring to the drawing and first to Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive which illustrate one way of carrying out this invention as applied to a television receiver of the kind wherein television pictures are reproduced on a viewing screen 2 of the mirror type, said screen being inclined or inclinable at about 45 to the vertical so that it is adapted to reflect light from the horizontal fluorescent screen of a vertically arranged cathode ray tube 4 in a horizontal direction, the said viewing screen 2 and the cathode ray tube 4 are mounted in a turret 3 which is fitted into the cabinet I (not shown in Fig. 1) of the television receiver and is araxis. Any desired angle of rotation of the turret may be allowed for, but it will generally be suflicient to allow for a rotation of about a right angle or a little more. Preferably the upper end 3a of the turret projects a little beyond the top of the cabinet (as shown in Fig. 3) and is provided with diametrically opposed ear like extensions or handles 5, 6 by which it may be rotated the angular rotation'oi the turret being limited by stop members l, 8 (Fig. 2) on the top of the cabinet so that one or other of the handles abuts against one or other stop members in the two limiting positions. In an arrangement as just described where the maximum angle of rotation is only about a right angle the wires leading to the cathode ray tube may conveniently be taken up through the centre of the turret and allowed to twist round to fol low rotation thereof, there being no need for slip rings or the like.

If desired the turret with its cathode ray tube and viewing screen may be arranged not only to be rotatable about a vertical axis but also so that it may be moved up and down to a certain extent. With such an arrangement, it is possible to raise the turret a little above the cabinet and retain it in its raised position by a clamp or the like. The advantage of this arrangement is that it allows for improvement of the ease of viewingparticularly if there is some obstacle between the viewer and the receiver, and further allows the viewing screen to be adjusted to the best position relative to the eyes of the viewer.

The invention is not limited to the particular type of television receiver above described. For example, as represented in Fig. 5, the invention may be applied to those known television receivers wherein a relatively small cathode ray tube 4 mounted vertically is arranged to project the pictures, by means of an optical system including an inclined mirror 10, on to a relatively large approximately vertical viewing screen 2. When applied to a receiver of this nature the invention may be carried out as shown in the said Fig. 5 by mounting the cathode ray tube 4, inclined miror H! and associated optical system (not separately shown), and vertical viewing screen 2 upon a rotatable turntable 3 which, as before, is preferably rotatable between stops (not shown) and. may also be arranged to be vertically movable as well.

Theoretically at any rate the invention is also applicable to those television receivers wherein the reproduced pictures are viewed directly on the end of a cathode ray tube. In such a case,

ranged to be rotatable manually about a vertical 55 the cathode ray tube may be mounted in a turret or on a turntable which is rotatable about an axis such that the direction of the axis of the tube is variable. The invention is, however, not so well adapted for application to this type of receiver for the reason that in many cases there will not be room in the cabinet conveniently to arrange for the necessary movement of the cathode ray tube, for with this type of receiver the axis of turret or turntable rotation will be approximately at right angles to the tube axis, whereas, in the viewing screen type of receiver, the two axes will be substantially coincident, or, at any rate, will make only a small angle with one another.

It is not necessary to arrange for the the turret or turntable to be rotated continuously between stops for it may be so arranged that it can be positioned in any of a plurality of different positions giving different directions of orientation and/or different levels to the viewing screen. In such a case the turret or turntable may be arranged to be lifted bodily from one position to another, being retained in any desired one of the different positions by plug and socket means which also provide the electrical connections for the cathode ray tube.

Again, as shown in Fig. 6 a mechanism may be provided for rotating the turret. In the construction of Fig. 6, this mechanism comprises a handwheel 13 mounted on a screwed shaft I! which runs in bearings (not shown) and is fixed against endwise movement. A nut on the screwed shaft II is linked to the turret 3 by a pivoted link 14.

In the mechanism shown in Fig. 7 for raising or lowering the turret 3, a wire 15 which can be wound onto or unwound from a drum l6 rotatable by a handwheel l3, passes over a pulley 20 on the underside of the top of the cabinet, and thence over pulleys l8, l9, being made fast to an eye I! also on the underside of the cabinet top. The pulleys l8, 19 are mounted on a member 2| which is pivoted at 22 to the base of the turret to permit the turret to be rotated without disturbing the turret hoisting mechanism.

What I claim is:

1. In television apparatus wherein said apparatus is at least partially enclosed within a container, a tubular member rotatively adjustable, and a cathode ray reproducing tube having anode, cathode and screen electrodes, said cathode ray reproducing tube being mounted within said tubular member and rotated therewith, said tubular member being at least partially within said container holding said television apparatus.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tubular member holding said reproducing cathode ray tube is both slidably and rotatively adjustable.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tubular member is apertured to form a masking means for masking off at least a portion of the viewing face of said cathode ray tube.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1, wherein said tubular member is slidably adjustable, and wherein said means for slidably adjusting said tubular member comprises at least one faced member joined to said tubular member, a cable member having one end thereof fixedly mounted with respect to said television apparatus container, and means for reeling said cable member whereby said tubular member is slidably forced.

ALFRED AUBYN LINSELL. 

